Your Apple Watch notifications can be set to private, if that’s what you want. Private notifications increase your privacy by preventing the full message from becoming visible unless you tap on a notification. Follow the process outlined in this quick step-by-step tutorial to learn how to keep your Apple Watch notifications private.

Private notifications on your wrist

By default, your Apple Watch immediately shows you the full notification.

As soon as you raise your wrist to see a notification, the watch displays a quick summary followed by the full details a few seconds later. This lets you quickly check out who the underlying message is from before any potentially sensitive details appear on your wrist.

While the default setting should work just fine for a majority of typical users, we’re thankful that Apple does permit Apple Watch wearers to optionally boost their notification privacy.

Follow along to learn how to switch to private notifications on your Apple Watch.

How to make Apple Watch notifications private

To use private notifications on your Apple Watch, do the following:

1) Open the companion Watch app on your paired iPhone.

2) Hit the My Watch tab.

3) Tap on Notifications.

4) Slide the switch labeled Notification Privacy to the ON position.

Doing so will enable private notifications on this watch. “When this is on, notification details will only appear when you tap on an alert,” reads the feature’s description.

Notifications will still hit your wrist, but you’ll only see the icon of the app and its name. The underlying content will be hidden unless you tap on an alert. If you prefer to see the full details right away rather than a quick notification summary, slide the switch back to the ON position.